Gruvr – Feelin’ Groovey

For all of you music fans out there, the web service Gruvr is an invaluable tool for discovering your local music scene. A true Web 2.0 mash-up, Gruvr serves up local maps, overlayed with live music information. No need to enter your zip code, Gruvr deciphers your whereabouts via your computer’s IP connection and localizes the map to correspond with your immediate major metropolitan area.Since live music is a social activity, Gruvr offers both local and band-specific widgets to share the music love. These widgets allow anyone with a blog, social network profile or web site to publish a live music directory. That alone is quite an accomplishment.Gruvr’s location-based widget provides a continuously updated listing of upcoming concerts near you. Each listing brings up the map of that show. To grab this widget, visit here. No need to fill in the town or zip code, as the service should already know where you live. Copy the widget to your blog or webpage via simple, one-click install process. If you’re handy with feeds, you can also grab their helpful GeoRSS or plain RSS feeds, if you just want the data.While their are a few others in this space, Gruvr offers about the easiest way to add local concert listings to your blog or website. Gruvr will even provide a link back to your site if you use the widget. Here’s an example of Live from Nashville’s Gruvr widget:

When users click on the Nashville map link, they are taken to Gruvr’s Nashville map:

Links with performance information within the widget are also provided and link back to each performer’s MySpace page for more information.Gruvr also offers a tour map widget, specific to a group or performer. It is this widget’s ability to track a musical act’s touring schedule overlayed on a real Google map that has made this a popular MySpace Music tool, invaluable for both performers and their fan base.Benefiting from the youth market’s enthusiasm for viral media, Gruvr has experienced tremendous growth via its band map widget thanks to some pretty high-profile musical acts adopting its technology. Among the more notable bands who have incorporated the widget on their MySpace pages are: Miley Cyrus, Jonas Bros. and Alanis Morissette. In total, the widget is featured on more than 1000 MySpace Music pages. But that’s just the start. Fans can grab their favorite musical performer’s touring widget and add it to their blog, web site or MySpace profile.Just go here to grab a band-map widget and type in your favorite band name (or myspace name if needed).It’s this ying-and-yang between artist and fan that make Gruvr a potentially powerful viral agent for the music industry. Since bands big and small are no longer selling CDs like they use to, live performances will be the big money maker, as evidence by the recent multi-$$$ deals put up by Live Nation to secure bands, ranging from the Jonas Brothers to Madonna.While Gruvr is playing with the big acts, it’s focused more on the long-tail of music, offering a much more granular view of local shows. Everyone knows when Van Halen is playing at the Garden, but who’s out there that we don’t know about. That’s where Gruvr has its greatest potential!And at just over 2-million uniques per month and showing consistent growth month-over-month, the service is really starting to take off. Leveraging the social media spoke-and-hub strategy, Gruvr pushes out content from its hub, while driving traffic back to the hub via its large-base of installed widgets (i.e. Spokes).

Gruvr is a self-funded, Boston-area start-up that, to date, generates revenue via Google AdSense and a few affiliate relationships. When will Gruvr start Feelin’ Groovey with cash flow? When it enables bands to monetize their fanbase via its widgets. And that’s exactly what the company has in store – from ticket sales to merchandise to digital downloads, there is no easy plug-and-play solution to support the millions of bands looking to earn a buck. Just when you thought there was no money in Rock & Roll, along comes Gruvr to keep the long tail of music wagging.

Some examples and screen shots

Neursonic myspace – advanced use of widgets on band pages Bucky Covington – from American Idol Flowmotion – widget used on myspace and band website The New Pornographers – example of standard myspace schedule vs. mapDubioza Kolektiv – example of European tour map Devon Allman’s Honeytribe – example of awesome layout art — but how easy is it to read the schedule?

compare to the map: much easier to tell at a glance if they are playing near you…

Example of how upcoming-shows announcment looks as bulletin in myspace, used by Indorphine . Each date is clickable to bring up an individual concert map.